00: Second Innovation
by Final-Freedom
Summary: Ghost of the past would always haunt the future. Can Celestial Being rise up to face its past horrors?
1. Phase 01: Numbers 0, 1

Gundam 00: Second Innovation

_Disclaimer: I do not own the anime Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 as well as all elements introduced in it. I do own the characters and Mobile Suits as well as the storyline which I created specifically in this fan fic._

Gundam 00: Second Innovation

Phase 01 – The Numbers (0 and 1)

2312 A.D.

"No, I am god."

_What...? Whose voice is this...? God's?_

"If I don't rule over them, humanity will continue to struggle and will perish. I am their Messiah."

_Messiah?_

"I'll become the personification of Aeolia's plans. No, I'll become an existence that transcends his plans!"

"Is this fate?"

_Fate? What's that?_

"You despicable human!!!"

_Silence... why is there... silence?_

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2325 A.D., Earth's Sphere Federation Army, Eastern Iraq Base

The Eastern Iraqi base of the Earth's Sphere was bustling with more than its regular activities as of the late events of anti-Federation troops staging insurgencies on army convoys, causing the base to always be on high alert.

Kusanagi Halo, a young talented GN-XIII-R2 pilot,had just finished his usual escort duties and was just about to exit his red Mobile Suit's cockpit. The model was almost the same as the one used by the A-LAWS and the United Nations Army during the war 12 years ago, though the R2 had greatly improved on its performance to match those of the Gadessa and Empressa units deployed by the A-LAWS during the previous war.

The pilot himself was as impressive as the suit, whose dark brown hair was usually messy and some stray bangs obscured part of his sharp eyes (which is worth noting to be blood-red) from some angles. This gives him a quite mysterious and intimidating appearance, in contrast to his bishounen-ish features.

"Shino, I'm going first..." he said in a no-nonsense tone, really walking away just as his wing-man's Mobile Suit's cockpit opened. The pilot of the other GN-XIII-R2 was a female, Japanese and like Halo a young one at that. She has shoulder length straight brown hair, which was tied up in a bun for piloting. Her eyes are a light shade of brown, which gives her quite a mesmerizing appearance. Pair that with her upbeat and cheery attitude and you've got an idol of a pilot.

"Hey, wait up... Halo... eekkk!!" the small built girl shrieked as she tripped on one of the many wires and tubes criss-crossing the floor underneath her. She didn't fall though, as Halo caught her mid-fall by the midriff, covering several meters in a fraction of a second.

"Thanks, Halo..." She said, blushing. She looked up to his fearsome face and said cheerily "So you do care about me, don't you Halo?"

It was Halo's turn to blush, as he turned away from her and towards the doorway he is heard mumbling stuff like 'its only because you're my wing-man...' and 'I don't really care...' and more stuffs along those lines... Shino couldn't help but to suppress a laughing fit.

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Just over the calm skies of Tehran, a familiar blue-white Celestial Being ship, the Ptolemaios, soared, undetected on enemy radar thanks to its revolutionary GN-Particle based stealth system.

"Ptolemaios A-01 to Taurus-3, we're on schedule." said the middle-eastern commander of the ship, codenamed Setsuna F. Seiei, back to the Celestial Being's base in Taurus-3, where it had been since the previous one on the Lagrange orbit was destroyed in an A-LAWS raid. "We'll be arriving at the combat zone in 0350, just as planned."

"We copy that, Setsuna." the voice of Feldt Grace was heard in response. "Proceed with the mission... and please be careful..." she said in a whisper.

Setsuna smiled a little and said, "Roger that, over and out."

_Now that one thing's done with..._Setsuna said, resting his head on the headrest of the commander's seat.

His black hair is now longer, though he still tried to keep it to the same style he had worn his entire living years. He wore a newer version of the Celestial Being uniform, which had changed a few times since it was first introduced in 2312. It now consists of a sleeveless vest over white zipped up long sleeved shirt which had quite high collars. The vests' colors could be customized to suit one's likings, so Setsuna's was a usual, blue. The pants are all white, with black combat boots.

"Hey, Setsuna-sama?" a red Celestial Being uniform clad youngster, whose dark hair falls well over his face, making him look a reminiscence of old Allelujah Haptism during his days as a Celestial Being's Gundam Meister, walked into the bridge. He was well built, as well as being a very talented young man as well. His name was Zero Anzhal. "So when's the mission starting?"

"It's all in due time, Zero" Setsuna answered calmly. The young man smiled at him.

"This is awesome!!" Zero shouted. "My first mission as a Meister, and it'll be under your guidance, Setsuna-sama!!"he cheered and bounced out of the room, grinning like a child.

"He's such a kid, isn't he?" Mileina Vashti, who's now in-charge of being the single operator of the Ptolemaios A-01. She's much more grown-up now, as well as a better operator than she ever was 12 years ago.

"Yeah..." Setsuna said smiling. He forgotten when was the last time he had smiled so much. The peace they've obtained... He swore to his existence as an Innovator that he'll protect it.

Outside of the bridge, Zero's smile faded. His face showed his true, determined self as he walked towards his Gundam in the hangar.

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Tigris River; Eastern Iraq,

The usually quiet Tigris River banks is now deafened by the loud and deafening sounds of rapid gunfire. A small group of ships, which was lightly escorted with a couple of GN-X705 Nexts were suddenly overwhelmed by a large number of old model GN-Xs as well as MSJ-0611-A Tieren Ground-types. Though the Nexts were technologically superior as an improved version of the GN-X704 Aheads, the two of them were simply outnumbered and outgunned by the enemy forces which consists of nearly 15 Mobile Suits.

The pilot of the Nexts, both now barely able to protect the Earth's Sphere Aid Unit, had been pushed hard in their defense. "Hold the line!" shouted the senior pilot to the other as a solid shell explosion from a Tieren's cannon. "The villagers are counting on us for the supplies!"

Fighting as much as they may, even the most veteran of pilots knew the limitations technological advancements had against overwhelming numbers. The enemy mobile suits are now closing on their position, taking the fight to them as well as closing every possible escape routes.

"Darn..." the Next's pilot cursed as an anti-federation GN-X got around his GN Beam Rifle fire and closed in with its own GN Beam Saber at its side. "Damn! They're really aiming for the supplies!" he shouted when the GN-X didn't strike him down, but instead got past him towards one of the supply ships. He tried to shoot it down from the back, but found himself overwhelmed by other Mobile Suits which are quickly breaking through his defenses. "No! The supplies!"

A single GN Particle beam stopped the GN-X dead in its tracks, causing it to look up towards the blinding desert sun.

"You're not touching those ships!" Kusanagi Halo shouted through the external speakers as his GN-XIII-R2 descended quickly from the sky, its GN drive flaring up insanely as he dived down upon the GN-X, impaling it through the head using his specifically tuned GN Lance. Not quite satisfied with his work, he pulled the trigger on the GN Beam Rifle the Lance doubled as. Red particle beams pierced the GN-X until it was nothing but a hole-ridden wreck. Once the GN-X ignited and its remains sunken into the Tigris River, the R2 turned towards the other Suits who watched his act in horror.

"This is ESF Private Halo Kusanagi, supporting supply defense." Halo informed the Next pilots via private communication channels. He instantly cut off the channel then and boosted his Suit forward towards the thick of the enemy formation, leaving the Nexts confused.

"What in the world?" shouted one of the anti-federation pilots as Halo effortlessly dodged a full volley of cannon fire from the ground-based Tierens, his R2 a red blur against the clear blue desert sky. The GN-X moved in to meet Halo in the skies but was clearly outmatched by the new generation Mobile Suit as it struck down two X's in a swipe of his GN Beam Saber. Still in the follow-up of his saber attack, Halo primed his GN Lance again and fired the particle beams at the three Tierens it had targeted earlier. The beams found its mark, and the cockpits of the old-model suits burst up in flames as the GN particle lanced through them and the killed the pilots inside.

"Halo!" Shino's voice was heard through a private channel in Halo's cockpit.

"What is it? Shino?" Halo answered, his eyes not for a second leaving the main display.

"Another group of Tierens believed to be equipped with LC-Long Range Cannons had appeared at 7 o'clock of the supply units! Range is 20 kilometers from defense target!"

"What?!" Halo was snapped out of his battle against another GN-X. It wouldn't take a genius to calculate that the Tierens are in perfect range for a bombardment, and too far for for Halo's R2 to reach in time. "Are you in range with them?!"

"We're going to be in combat range in 8 seconds." Shino replied, her own R2 blazing against the sky as a few more XIIIs and Aheads followed up behind her. She could almost make out the Tierens' cannons, all pointing towards the river.

_8 seconds? There's no time! _Halo mentally screamed. He turned desperately towards the direction of where the Tierens are said to be.

Shino looked in horror as the Tierens began deploying their tripod stabilizers and took aim on the supply ships.

_6..._Shino floored her R2's thrust pedals, boosting the R2 to a dangerously high speed.

_5..._The Tierens' pilots got the firing coordinates from their observers at the river.

_4..._Halo fought to break through the anti-federation Suits defense lines. It seemed that the anti-federation forces are intent on not letting him towards the Long Range Cannon Tierens.

_2..._The Tierens' cannons are now loaded. Shino's R2 was just out of her own GN Lance's beam rifle range, where the Tierens could be hit. The Tierens' support units detected her squad and moved into interception positions. "Outta the the way!!" she screamed, engaging the enemy GN-X.

_1..._

Several purple particle beams flashed through the sky, destroying the Tierens' long-range cannons before a even a single shot was fired. For the second time of the day, every head looked up into the sky.

"That's a..." Shino gasped as a red-and-white mobile suit dropped out of the sky. It had a folded solid blade on its right arm, in which the folded form revealed a beam rifle-like weapon. On its left was another solid blade this time held like a normal sword. On its waist were large stabilizing skirting units, where some GN Fangs units are suspected to be kept. It uses a GN Drive like all ESF units, though the particles emitted were different in color... which could only mean one thing... "Celestial Being?"

The Gundam touched down in the middle of the enemy forces, causing the Tierens and Anfs to scatter and break formations in order to get a proper aim on the Gundam. They were, however, too slow. The Gundam engaged its right arm's massive sword and swung it across an Anf, cutting it cleanly in half.

Using the momentum of the previous attack, the Gundam spun itself before launching into the air, just in time to dodge a Tieren's cannon fire. In a split second, the massive sword/rifle took on the GN Rifle mode again, as well as its other hand held sword which transformed into a longer GN Beam Rifle. Taking aim while in the spin, the Gundam fired simultaneous shots from both GN beam rifles at the surrounding Mobile Suits, each shot biting the metal flesh its prey and either destroying or disabling the unlucky units.

"Zero Anzhal, Gundam Excel, " Zero said from withing the cockpit of the red Gundam, which now stood in the midst disabled oppositions, as well as stunned able units. "Blazing through!" With that he floored the thrusters' pedal on his Gundam, and charged right into the thick of the enemy lines.

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"Unit GN-0001 had engaged the enemy," Mileina dictated the information on her display screen. "None of the supply ships were hit, Phase 1 successful!"

Setsuna looked at the main screen on the Ptolemaios A-01's bridge, and saw a live image feed on the battle ensuing between the Excel and the anti-federation forces. "Contact Eins, Phase 2 begins in T minus 20 seconds"

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Sky; over Old Baghdad;

A lone civilian plane flew over the clear evening sky, in it carrying a group of high-class businessman and women, all seemingly enjoying their latest sales. The number of escorts for the plane was staggering, 6 mobile suits, all whose armaments rivaling those used by the ESF Army. The GN-XIII R2s all belong to a group of mercenaries, all who seemed to be more than regular pilots.

Eins Anzhal, a young man in around his 20's was laid in wait aboard his pitch-black Gundam. He had his long hair tied back in a pony tail, and his brilliant blue eyes were fixed on his Gundam's GN Sniper Rifle III's sniper scope. "C'mon... just a lil' bit more..." the moment the target was in his scope's sight, he grinned. "Eins Anzhal, Gundam Schatten! Sniping in the shadows!'" with that, he pulled his trigger.

A purple beam of GN particles pierced through the sky, and without any warning pierced through one of the enemy R2's cockpit and it dropped from the sky in a ball of fire.

"What the?! We're under attack?!" shouted one of the mercenary pilots. The other mercs quickly scrambled, diving from high altitude towards the origin of the attack. They, however, didn't dive in a straight vertical dive, but instead circled in random circles, all to avoid being picked off by the enemy Gundam's sniper.

"I see... smart aren't cha? " Eins smiled to himself. He pressed the trigger to his GN sniper rifle repeatedly, sending more particle beams flew up into the sky. As expected, the mercenary Mobile Suits dodged the perfectly linear attacks and continued their charge towards the ground based Gundam.

Suddenly, the beams fired by the black Gundam turned 90 degrees twice, turning back to strike downwards. Not expecting an attack from the back, two of the mercenary Mobile Suits took the shot directly on their backs; the explosion from their GN Drives momentarily blinded their surviving comrades with a combination of flames, smoke and GN particles.

"Where in hell, did that bastard go?" said one of the three remaining R2 pilots as the dust cleared and the Gundam had disappeared from sight and effective area scanning. They looked around frantically, until suddenly another mercenary pilot screamed as his suit was, too, pierced by a particle beam. His comrades had no time to look around as a storm of particle beams hit them from all angles, leaving no space to dodge such a brutal attack.

"Now, that one's done..." Eins said as he deactivated his GN Active Optical Camouflage system, making his black Gundam Schatten, whose name means shadow in German, appear out of thin air. He then turned his aim to his true target, the plane carrying the executives, but just before he pulled the trigger he remembered Setsuna's words before the mission.

"_The course of Celestial Being's missions now depends on you, Eins." _Setsuna told him, just mere moments before his sortie a few minutes age. _"The plane transports the ESF's military provider, Nebula Arm's most important people. Without them, Nebula Arms would be out of commission for a few weeks at most, and that would be a great advantage for us..."_

_Brother? What are you doing? Stop! _Those words rang through Eins' mind, and an evil smile crept about his face.

"Heh, to hell with the advantage." Eins said, his finger letting go of the trigger as the plane flew out of his range. He watched as his mission target flew away, just as he knew Setsuna was too as well. He didn't regret that even one bit. "I won't be the one to slaughter the unarmed, no matter how sinned they are..."

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_Well, first and foremost, I would like to say thank you to all that read this fic. This is only my second work so far (The other one is Persona One World, under the Persona Series under Games... please do read that one too...) My other series is on hiatus so far, so I worked on this one for now, don't worry if you're reading One World as well, I want to inform that I'll be continuing the series really soon... I promise!_

_So please do read this story and support my works... Hope that you all would enjoy Gundam 00 Second Innovation! _


	2. Phase 02: Numbers 2, 3

Gundam 00: Second Innovation

_Disclaimer: I do not own the anime Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 as well as all elements introduced in it. I do own the characters and Mobile Suits as well as the storyline which I created specifically in this fan fic._

Gundam 00: Second Innovation

Phase 02: The Numbers (2 and 3)

Northern Old Baghdad; Anti-Federation Army's base;

"What the hell? All units?" shouted a middle-aged man, presumably the leader of the movement, the moment he got the encrypted message from his subordinates on the field. "That can't be..."

The Arabian man slammed his fist onto the table, cursing in his native tongue

"Sir, an unidentified Mobile Suit is heading this way!" one of the man's subordinate informed, suddenly bursting into the room. His face was pale as he said, "Its a... Gundam sir..."

"G...Gundam?" the movement's leader staggered. "S...Send out all units we have against it! We have to take it down!" he shouted almost hysterically. Quickly, all the Mobile Suit pilots left in the base was scrambled, each taking their positions hastily. The barren grounds were suddenly filled with nearly 18 aerial based Hellions and Enacts, as well as over 25 ground-based Anfs and Tierens.

Looking at his lines, the movement leader forced a smile. "Let's see you get past through this, you Gundam bastard..."

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From his long-range scanners, Zwei Numera could see the anti-federation forces readying to intercept him, and he smiled. "Damn these guys... they're not making this any easier for me are they?" his white-purple schemed Gundam's eyes flashed red as it entered the approximate combat zone and readied its heavy weaponry. "Gundam Axel, going in!"

The Gundam's armaments were extreme, with twin GN Bazookas in its hands and and two more GN Cannon mounted on its shoulder, many would think that the slight frame it has would be over-weighted and the pilot would be having a hard time maneuvering. But, how wrong they are. The moment, the Axel is in firing range the anti-federation Mobile Suits opened fire. Much to their surprise, the Gundam dodged acrobatically which was expected to be seen on a lightweight model.

In the midst of enemy fire, Zwei stabilized his Suit to get an aim on the enemy line. "Eat this." he said, pulling the trigger on both his control levers. The Axel locked on using its back-mounted GN Cannons and let loose two enormous waves of compressed GN particles comparable to artillery-type GN Units such as the Gadessa's GN Mega Launcher. The beam attack engulfed the tightly packed ground forces, reducing its numbers significantly and forcing the remaining units (only about half the original number) to take cover wherever possible.

Seeing the sheer might of the Gundam, the aerial units moved in for a close-range encounter against the enemy Gundam. Zwei smiled despite all this, and calmly moved his Gundam to descend to ground level, all the while keeping up a GN Field to block the relentless attacks from the Hellion and Enact's linear cannons. Seeing that the Gundam had yet to fire a shot in retaliation to the aerial units, the ground units moved boldly to surround the Gundam, which is now surrounded by the anti-federation forces from all angles, and was taking hit after hit on its GN Field.

"I can't believe that you guys fell for this..." Zwei sighed, his eyes on his sensors and the GN Particle Compression Gauge which is now on 250%. "Well, it's your funeral... GN Force, releasing compressed GN particles." with that, the armor-plates on the Gundam slid open, which from underneath was seen vents which is now expelling GN Particles at very rapid rate. The result of the compressed GN Particles being released all at once caused a violent explosion to occur, sending the particles in all direction in a very wide radius, destroying everything in its path.

"What on earth..." was all the anti-federation movement leader could mutter after seeing his defensive lines broken completely in one massive attack. He was completely shaken after seeing the Gundam walk out of the attack, unscathed by its own power. He only had chance for one last prayer before the red-eyed Gundam fired the GN missiles stored in its shoulders upon the anti-federation movement's base which completely razed the base, all under Zwei's sad eyes...

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"Phase 3 completed, Axel had successfully eliminated the anti-federation army's Northern Baghdad base!" Mileina informed Setsuna cheerily. Setsuna looked indifferent but switched his console display to another Gundam Meister. It was a female Meister whose suit was colored matching her silver hair, her beauty hiding her true prowess as a pilot within.

"It's your turn, Drei." Setsuna told the girl, who nodded hastily. "O-o...kay..."

"That won't do, Drei. You're supposed to say 'Roger-desu!'" Mileina said to the girl, teasing her.

"Oh, right....R-roger....-desu..." the young, silver haired girl said softly though doubtfully while Mileina laughed openly, causing the younger girl's fair face to flash scarlet. Setsuna snorted, as if holding back a laughter of his own, before turning it hastily into a funny sounding cough.

"Setsuna-sama!" Drei shouted, the scarlet on her face intensifying. "Hmph, Gundam Roxcel, commencing the mission..." With a scowl she pushed the control lever of her Suit and sortied without another word.

"Mileina..."

"Hehe... sorry, can't help it-desu!"

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In her Gundam Roxcel's fighter-mode, it took only minutes for Drei Numera to reach the mission area from the Ptolemaios-A01's location. She circled over the area, which much to her surprise, was clear from any hostiles. The only unit left in the area was an ESF's R2, which was hovering on the surface of the once again calm Tigris River. She checked her scanners again for any signs of the anti-federation forces.

"This is weird, there's supposed to be... Ahhh!!!" Drei let out a scream when a beam of red GN particles shot past her Suit's cockpit, narrowly missing the golden fighter-formed Mobile Suit. She looked up to her main display and managed to narrowly dodge a piercing strike from the R2's GN Lance by transforming into her Gundam's Mobile Suit form.

"What the?" she shouted, as another rain of ruby beams shot past her, forcing her back. The R2 didn't let her take a breather as it rushed forward, its GN Saber at its side.

By impulse, Drei drew her own beam saber and the two swords of light crashed against each other in mid-air, sending sparks in all directions. "Setsuna-sama!" Drei shouted as she tried to open a communications line with the Ptolemaios-A01, where the action lapsed her attention on the fight and presented the R2 a chance to land a kick on her Gundam's midriff, sending her flying backwards.

"Ahhhh!!!!!!" Halo rushed the golden mobile suit with the ferocity of a crazed demon. He lunged again and again at the Gundam, giving his opposition no opening for a counter-attack. He pressed hard onto his accelerator pedal , sending his red mobile suit in a high-speed dive towards the golden suit with beam saber held high.

Halo couldn't explain what happened, but under the strain of the Anti-Federation sniper units putting on the ESF supply unit earlier, something changed inside of him, feeding his brain with enormous amounts of information at once, allowing him to easily take out one anti-federation mobile after another. And now, the moment he saw the golden mobile suit's distinctive Original GN Drive particles, the feeling was aroused again, this time with an uncontrollable urge to strike down that unit. At all cost necessary..

"Die, Celestial Being!" he shouted, the words out of his mouth before he even knew it. He brought down the saber onto the Gundam, who in response raised its own against it. From that action itself Halo could make out that the pilot wasn't prepared for his assault and that the guard was put up clumsily. He took the flaws in the defense to slam his lance into the Gundam's face, staggering it.

Without even a moment's delay, Halo fired particle beams from his GN Lance's rifle. It'll take no expert to know that from this position, the golden Gundam is a sitting duck for attacks in such conditions. The bright red flash illuminated the desert sky as the beam hit the Gundam squarely in its chest.

The resultant flash was bright enough to blind Halo for a second, though it would take more than speedy blindness recovery to help Halo block the lightning-fast counterattack of the Gundam.

"Damn it!" Halo cursed spontaneously, raising his GN Field shield to block the beams from the opponents GN Rifle. "Che, this guy is not bad...." he said, a smile that wasn't his own crept across his face.

Drei was hyperventilating. That last attack could have finished her off, if it wasn't for her Roxcel's automatic GN-DRESS system, the GN Defense Response Support System, which had erected a defensive GN Field on the exact spot the Roxcel would be hit by an attack, repelling it and cutting the massive particle expenditure of a full scale GN Field.

The opponent was tougher than any that she had ever faced before; as he was able to even nullify any advantage that Drei would have had through her machine's superior specs. It was way out of her expectation that she was the one to struggle against this mere soldier.

"Ah!" she shouted, when the R2 deflected her Saber attack with its own Saber, opening her up for an attack. The R2 drove its Lance, straight towards the Roxcel's cockpit.

A flash of purple and an explosion later, Drei felt her Suit broke free from the R2 and only then did she dare to open her eyes again.

"Drei!" Zero's voice hailed over in Drei's cockpit as his Gundam was seen over the distance, approaching the Roxcel. Alongside him were Eins and Zweis' Suits as well, all flying at high speed to her aid. "Zero, Eins, Zwei!"

Eins used his Schatten Gundam's long range weapon to snipe at the R2 from a distance without it being able to return fire. However most of the shots were warning shots and were not intended to hit the R2.

"Damn you, you dare attack our little sister!!" Zero shouted over the open channel, boosting ahead of his brothers. The R2 returned the gesture, discarding the GN Lance, which was busted by the Schatten's attack, and boosted forward to meet the Excel.

Red GN Saber met with the particle lined blade of the Excel's GN Sword, sending violent sparks between them. As if in sync, both the R2 and the Excel drew their second Saber and GN Blade III respectively at the same time, and clashed their secondary weapons as well. Halo hissed a little before delivering a heavy kick to the Excel's midriff, sending the Celestial Being unit tumbling through the sky.

Zero struggled a little to regain control of his Suit, but the next moment he swapped his GN Sword to rifle mode, firing rapidly at the ESF Mobile Suit.

"Shouldn't we be helping Zero-niisan?" Drei asked when both Eins and Drei both attended to her, leaving Zero to face the R2 all by himself. Eins however just shook his head and said confidently, "I don't think Zero would need any kind of assistance."

"He's strong, that brat Zero." he added, looking back at the battle. Both red-clad combatants were going at it at full force, and to be honest even Eins was unnerved by the R2's strength. "He'll win, Zero..."

Halo sheathes his secondary saber to trade for a GN Handgun, which was stored on the R2's hips. Again the two scarlet mobile suit parted from each other, both firing from their guns high velocity GN particle beams. Beams of red and purple crossed each other mid-air as both machines swerved to dodge the others' attacks.

"Looks like this is getting us nowhere!" Zero shouted as he rushed towards his enemy again. "Trans-Am!" he shouted, activating his Gundam's Trans-Am system at the same time. The whole mobile suit glowed a brighter shade of red than it were before and he effect was immediate, as the suit's speed increased threefold, quickly disappearing from the R2's sight.

"Too can play this game! Trans-Am!" Halo activated his R2's Trans-Am system as well, taking the battle to hypersonic speeds . At such velocity of battle, it was hard to see what's exactly going on, but the pilots knew exactly when to dodge even before they could see the next blow coming. An astoundingly superhuman feat.

Zwei watched the battle out of the corner of his eyes, even while he was on the way back to the Ptolemaios to asses Drei's unit's damage. Deep in his own consciousness, he sensed trouble coming up ahead....

Halo's body and mind was pushed to its human limit in this battle, as he was not only to keep track of his Gundam opponent, but also feel the effect of the overwhelming G-force inflicted upon him by the high-speed duel. However there were always that voice in his head, telling him that no matter what happens he must take down that Gundam. No matter what.

"This is it!!!" Halo shouted, bringing down his saber onto the Gundam, which in response blocked it with its GN Blade III. Using the momentum of his attack, Halo knocked the GN Blade aside before slashing upwards to sever the Gundam's arm.

"Guaaaahhhhh!!!!" Zero shouted as the R2 stabbed his Excel's right shoulder next, disabling both his arm weapons. His breathing was beginning to become heavy, and he began to sweat. "Fangs!!" Zero shouted in desperation and fear, as he let loose his combination of 10 GN Fangs units, 4 on each sides of his hips skirting while four more units mounted behind its shoulders, of which two were already destroyed when the R2 stabbed the Excel.

Halo wasn't the least surprised when his opponent let loose the Fangs. He maneuvered around the unmanned units, dodging the deadly particle beams and even the GN particle aligned edges of the Fang units with somewhat ease.

His focus on the Fangs units were disturbed for a second when a second warning was issued by his R2's computer. Out of pure reflex action Halo pulled back on his control lever, quickly moving his suit out of the way of a massive particle beam. "Che, another one?" he looked over to his secondary displays which were showing another Gundam, the purple-white Axel, approaching from 9 o'clock.

"Zero, fall back NOW!!!" Zwei shouted at the younger pilot. He fired smaller bursts of particle beams at the R2 in an attempt to buy some time. The R2 easily swerved around the shots and returned fire from its GN Handguns,

"But, I..." Zero wanted to protest, but reconsiders after being given a stern look from the other pilot. "Al...alright, roger that...." he said, withdrawing his Fangs and heading back to the Ptolemaios A-01. Zwei followed close behind, firing more shots to cover for their escape. When in range with the Ptolemaios, the overwhelming cover fire from the carrier forced Halo to pull back and allow Zero and Zwei to escape back into the Ptolemaios.

"DAMN YOU ALL!!! CELESTIAL BEING!!!!"

"Halo!" Shino's voice was heard from a communique from HQ. "Halo, where...? What happened to you?" her voice was quite unsure when she saw the curious golden glow in Halo's eyes. As quickly as she realized it, the glow disappeared.

"I...nothing... happened really..." Halo lied. He seemed extremely exhausted and before he knew it he passed out. "Shi..no..."

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In the Ptolemaios A-01, Zero was put into the infirmary for treatment for shock. As he was sleeping in the recovery capsule, Setsuna and the other Gundam Meisters plus Mileina and Suzy Raman, the head nurse/engineer, gathered around in the conference room, in front of them the entire battle of Excel against the R2 replaying.

"The R2's specs are nothing above average.... its gotta have quite a damn good pilot to be able to match up against my baby like that..." the 38 year old Suzy commented, sipping from the glass of liquor in her hand. Her actions reminded Setsuna of his old strategic coordinator, Sumeragi Li Noriega, only this was at least 10 times worst... Her dark brown hair was a mess, as she had just finished working on the Excel's repairs.

"So, we were defeated by just a lowly ESF pilot?" Drei asked, looking sad.

"Yes, you were..." The smaller girl looked more depressed, not that the older lady gave a damn about she felt.

"He's not just some lowly soldier..." Zwei said after being quite for sometime. All eyes were on him for a second, before he lifted his head and said. "He's one of us..."

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************


	3. Phase 03: Awakening?

Gundam 00: Second Innovation

_Disclaimer: I do not own the anime Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 as well as all elements introduced in it. I do own the characters and Mobile Suits as well as the storyline which I created specifically in this fan fic._

Gundam 00: Second Innovation

Phase 03: Awakening

Halo was back on his job after being put on rest for a week, and was immediately assigned to a different squad.

"What is the meaning of this, sir?!" he demanded, slamming his fist on the commander's large table.

"It...it's a transfer order..." the older man was clearly surprised by Halo's sudden burst of anger.

"What I mean is that.... why the heck is SHE coming with me?!!" Halo pointed with his thumb to Shino, who was grinning in the background. "There's no point in THAT, is it?! Carrying that annoying little ditz around..."

"It's normal for pilots to have their wing-men transferred along with them..."

"Its okay right... Halo-kun~" Shino suddenly held him from behind. And in a soft voice added "We can have our usual fun..." before laughing naughtily into Halo's ear.

"Oh," the older officer smiled. "So it seems there is no problem for you two to go together it seems?"

"None at all sir!" Shino winked at Halo while the commander nodded happily.

"SHINOO!!!!!"

* * *

Indian Ocean; ESF Carrier _Lampranges;_

Shino had enjoyed moving into her new quarters aboard the the Lamperanges, where she and Halo had been recently transferred to. She remembered clearly the first time she and Halo had both stepped off the helicopter carrying them from mainland to the carrier which was just a few hours ago.

"Welcome aboard the Lamperanges, First Lieutenant, Halo Kusanagi.!" Two personnel from the ship saluted them. One of them is an Asian man with short crew-cut hair and a well built body, while the other was dark skinned Indian woman with curly dark hair with her bust size outclassing Shino's by at least twice in size and volume.

"Private Jackson Hong, from ESF China Branch 12th Special Response Mobile Unit. Reporting for duty as your second wing-man, sir!" the Asian introduced himself, saluting sharply.

"Private Nisha Subramaniam., ESF Indian Branch 5th Aerial Mobile Unit. Reporting as your third wing-man sir." she said, smiling curtly to Halo, much to Shino's irritation. "Shall we show you around the ship, sir?"

"No." Halo's answer was short. Throughout the entire introduction he seemed quite distant, as if looking at something far away. "My quarters is on the third level of the living block, accessible through the second stair from the left next to the mess hall. Access code to my new hangar is currently KEX92810, changeable via the access point in my quarters. Correct?"

His answers seemed to stun his wing-men for a second, before Nisha regained her composure and said "Sir, how did you..."

"I'll be in my quarters until further notice, til then please do not disturb me." he said, walking off without any more than a wave to his three wing-men. Of the three, only Shino seemed to realize that Halo's eyes was glowing the curious golden glow from the past battle.

* * *

"He's really something else, isn't he?" Nisha's voice awakened Shno from her daydream. Back to the present, she and Nisha shares a bunk in a small room for both of them while Jackson in the room next to them. Their rooms are not far away from Halo's, which was locked shut since the time he stepped into it earlier.

"What do you mean, Nisha-san?"

"I can't really make out what he's thinking.... You know, his eyes doesn't really reflect his true feelings..." She said, thinking deeply. She made a face while crossing her arms across her chest. "It's more like... I can't make out anything out of his eyes at all.."

"Well," Shino said, smiling. "If he's that predictable, he couldn't have been an ace pilot right?"

Nisha laughed. "I guess that's quite correct." Together the two female pilots laughed.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Will you two girls keep it down? I'm trying to focus on something here!"Jackson's voice was heard from behind the door. Shino shut up quickly, but Nisha got up to get the door. "Right, right... Jacks... sorry to disturb your knitting or anything..."

"Knitting?"

"Well, Jacks here might seem like a big macho man or something.... but deep inside he ~loves~ knitting... Well, he's a big softie...." Nisha told the confused Shino, opening the door to let him in.

"Nisha, that's not a very nice thing to say!" he said.

"Seriously, if you're worried about me taking your precious leader away from you.... You should watch out for this guy more..."

"Nisha!" Jackson bumped Nisha lightly on her shoulder before laughing heartily. The three laughed, a laughter that never reached the heart of their beloved Lieutenant.

* * *

"Ggrrrhhhhh....." Halo groaned as he clutched his head again. For the past three hours he had been on his bed, struggling against the deep searing pain in his head that had been accompanied by weird voices in his head as well as weird visions and images forming right in front of his eyes.

_Destroy them...._

"Ahhh!!!!" Halo shouted, his brain suddenly flooded with enormous amounts of data and information, which seemed to be fed directly to his brain by some means or another. It was the same sensation as during his fight against the Celestial Being, but this time the information seemed to overload his every senses, burning them.

_Kill them all.... Those Celestial Being bastards...._

Halo rolled off his bed onto the floor, and saw a reflection of himself on a large dressing mirror. His eyes. They had turned from their usual scarlet to some kind of golden glowing. As soon as he got a caught sight of it, it disappeared, taking along with it the pain.

_Fight...._

Halo got back up to his feet, holding his head to ease the residual pain left behind from the pain he fought against a while ago. Staggering, he made his way to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. The voice still whispers in his ears, though he was slowly regaining the use of his senses. Looking up into his own reflection, he saw the faint golden glow just underneath the scarlet of his eyes unyielding in its glimmer.

* * *

Setsuna F. Seiei sat in the captain's seat in the Ptolemaios A-01, a seat once sat by one of the greatest strategic minds ever. In front of him was a faint image of a purple haired young man, blurry as if a hologram.

"So, what does it mean, Tieria Erde? Is there another facility which could produce 'them'?" Setsuna asked the hologram. Whom just looked down, unsure. "There is no other record of a facility being able to do so other than the one aboard the CBS-Celestial Being which we had under our control... But..."

"Zwei is more sensitive in sensing quantum brainwaves when compared to other Meisters..."

"There is a possibility that his claim was legit," Tieria looked up skeptically, "But then again, the data on the pilot of that R2 was clearly of a normal ESF pilot, Kusanagi Halo, whose background is normal enough to conclude that he is clearly an ordinary human...."

"Maybe he's like me? A genuine one?" Setsuna asked, his eyes suddenly changed from the usual brown to a bright golden kaleidoscope-like eyes of a genuine Innovator. "Maybe he had undergone the Innovation process?"

"Maybe..." Tieria thought for a while. "I'll look more into the matter, in the mean time try to get some sleep... You may be an Innovator, but you're still human. Setsuna F. Seiei... You shouldn't make Feldt Grace worry so much about you, you know..."

"How did you know about...? ... screw that quantum supercomputer...." the two veteran Gundam Meisters shared a laugh that seemed to have been long overdue between them...

* * *

Indian Ocean, ESF Carrier _Lamperanges;_

"I know that he's got a license, but that doesn't mean that he can do whatever he wants around here...." Richards Owen, the head mechanic of the Lamperanges groaned as Halo worked alone on his new Mobile Suit. "And that's the new model he's working on... Even I hadn't figured the whole thing out yet!"

"He's always like that, Rich..." Shino, Nisha and Jackson told the older man, the trio had just came down from their own Mobile Suits, the fairer Japanese girl leading the others.

"That's the GNX-V650/S GN-XV... a new prototype model from the research facility. We've only got three of 'em here..." Richard commented, looking at the two mobile suits similar to the one Halo's on right now. "And all three of them are given to top-class licensed pilots..."

"Which means we wing-men wouldn't get a chance to even sit in it's cockpit..." Jackson sighed, looking hopefully at the smarter, more aerodynamically built Suit.

"Halo-kun, its time for lunch!" Shino called out. There was no answer. "Halo!"

Inside of the GN-XV, Halo was completely oblivious to the Shino's call from outside. His eyes are now glowing golden in the darkened cockpit and is rewriting the new model Mobile Suit at an incredible speed on three separate screens at once. Once in a while he'll smile to himself a little but still completely shut out of the outside world.

* * *

"Gee, that guy!" Shino scowled while having lunch in the mess hall together with Jackson and Nisha. She seemed to be releasing her frustrations on the tray of food in front of her by shoveling spoons after spoonful of food into her mouth. "In the end he didn't even come out of his shell!!"

"Cool it, girl..." Nisha mumbled, not that Shino could hear anything over her own loud grumbling. She, Jackson and Richard could only smile while looking at the energetic girl, who looked angrily at them, "What are you guys looking at?"

Shino was about to continue her fit of bitching when the alarm sounded across the carrier.

"An enemy's attack?!" Nisha was the first to jump out of her seat, running out of the mess hall. That was when the sound of a Mobile Suit jettisoning out of the carrier was heard. "Who could've?"

"Launching before a scramble order was given...? Is it that cocky son-of-a.... I mean the First Lieutenant?!" Richard shouted, following up to Nisha, close behind him was Shino and Jackson. "Did he sortie in his XV?"

"If he did, we better catch up." Shino suddenly sped up, running past Nisha and he others. "We wouldn't want to miss out as his wing-men right?"

* * *

Halo realized the coming of the 5 anti-federation ships, which had come to pick out the lone Lamperanges which is en route to rendezvousing with another ESF fleet, though it had just first being a feeling of unease. Due time the information came through the line he fixed from his XV to the ship's recon network and he prepared for sortie well before the alarm sounded.

"First Lieutenant Halo Kusanagi here. Visual on enemy vessels confirmed, proceeding to destruction of anti-federation units!"

"Hold on, there's...." Halo didn't want to hear it, so he closed off the communication line before the Lamperanges officer could even finish his sentence. He smiled to himself, looking over to the enemy ships before him.

Each of the ship had between 3 to 4 Mobile Suits aboard them, making the total enemy count to be 19. They are mostly MSJ-0611-Tieren variants, such as the AC-Antiaircraft Cannon type and LC-Long-Range Cannon Types, with the exception of the three AEU-09Enacts.

The anti-federation forces had taken notice of Halo's new GN-XV, a variant of the original GN-X and XIII, only this time its wielding two GN Katana . The swords are of similar fashion as the ones on the legendary Mr Bushido's Masurao, only this new prototype model is significantly lighter and slimmer than the older model. Folded under both its arms are two more GN Sword Tau II, which functions exactly like the model's older brother, the GNX-612T/AA Superbia GN-X.

"Just a bunch of old junks..." Halo shrugged before pressing hard onto the thruster pedals of his Suit, sending his customized red/black Suit straight into the heart of the enemy's formation. Using the GN Rifles integrated into the GN Sword Tau II under its arms, Halo fired two precise shots into two of the Enacts which came down in flames.

The last Enact pilots must have been too bewildered by the instantaneous fall of his comrades that he didn't put up any sort of fight when Halo hacked through his Suit using the GN-Swords. Seeing this, the other anti-federation pilots came to their senses, and opened fire on the XV. Pushing his Suit into a dive, Halo dodged all of the shells aimed at him. He pulled up just before hitting the water and fired up his verniers yet again to race across the water to the nearest ship possible.

Halo pulled out his GN Katana and slashed an LC-type Tieren in half. Seeing the XV now on the ship, the other two Suits tried in vain to maneuver away from the ESF Suit but it was no use, the ship provided little to no ground for them to reposition. On the other hand, the other Mobile Suits on the other ships were grounded as well as they could not fire without risk of hitting their allies.

Two swift strikes from the GN Katanas and the other two units fell into the ocean in two pieces. Halo proceeded to firing a single shot from his GN Rifle, destroying the ship and killing the crew unlucky enough to be trapped inside. Satisfied with his work, Halo took into the sky again, only to have his proximity beeping like crazy. "What the?!" Two more Enacts had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and had already have him surrounded with their make-shift GN-beam saber at the ready.

"_At this range...!!!" _Halo bit hard on his lips, bracing it as the blades swung towards the cockpit.

"Halo!" "Lieutenant!!" "Lieutenant!!"

Three voices was heard through Halo's communication system as a beams of scarlet light rained past him, destroying the Enacts that had threatened to end his life just a while ago.

"Impossible... Shino?!"

"Idiot Halo! Rushing out before the rest of us!" Shino scolded him though she herself was smiling. She took position next to Halo, and two more R2's joined her at his sides.

"Lieutenant!" Nisha called for him. She and Jackson both looked genuinely worried. "Lieutenant, are you okay?"

Halo took a while to look at them, before smiling. "I'm not fine until the last of these guys are at the bottom of the ocean." He replied. "Let's do this."

Shino, Nisha and Jackson smiled. "Roger!"

Shino and the other two wing-men rushed forward into the enemy's reinforcement forces, dodging the fire by the enemy antiaircraft cannon fire. "Amateurs!" Nisha shouted, using her GN Lance Beam Rifle to disable a Tieren before stabbing it through another one's midriff. The destruction of the two suits was enough to sink the ship, which Nisha had long escaped before its demise.

Halo flew past two of the enemy aerial unit Enacts, both which fell prey to his twin GN Katanas. A swift push of his control levers and his GN-XV braked before hitting the waters. He fired two simultaneous shots at two more Enacts which had tried to flank him again and both of them went down in flames. Switching back to his twin GN Sword, he rushed up to the closest enemy ship in his sight and made short work of its bridge.

Jackson too wasted no time in laying waste to another ship. The remnants of the anti-federation forces had enough as they saw the overwhelming strength of only 4 ESF mobile suits, and started their retreat. Leaving their pride and immobile allies behind, the remaining fleet escaped the battle zone.

"Victory!" Shino cheered, which was then joined in by Jackson and Nisha. Halo smiled and pressed his comm button. "You didn't do much, did you Shino? Hahaha..." He laughed.

Shino smiled for a while before becoming angry. "Eiiii!! Halo!!!!" Her friends just laughed at her, as she continued to rage at Halo. Together they flew back to the Lamperanges, and towards a new future together.

* * *

Unknown Location;

A man in his 20-ies sat at the end of a meeting table in a darkened room. His light green hair was tidy and clean and he was wearing expensive looking clothes. All eyes of the members of the table were fixed on the screen behind him, most were whispering to each other in awe.

The man with the light green hair smiled. "Gentlemen, may I introduce.... the Babylon Project." The golden kaleidoscope flash in his eyes signifying his malicious intent.


End file.
